Launch Day

Twenty-six years ago today my son was launched on the world. Happy birthday!

And today it was time for some other young things to face the big wide world:

The young blackbirds were very restless this morning. There was lots of flapping of wings, and walking around the edges of the nest.

Suddenly at about 9:00am there were only two. Where was the third?

I don't know how it got there, but it was on a different part of the verandah. It stayed there all day, with regular visits from its parents bringing it food. Then at about 5:30 this afternoon, it left this perch.

Only a couple of minutes after the first, a second baby jumped. It landed somewhere in the shrubbery. Then there was only one, which seemed reluctant to take the leap. The parent birds seemed to be calling encouragement to it, but it wasn't in a hurry.

It sat alone checking out the view of the backyard for over half an hour:

Eventually, it took the plunge, and nestcam became obsolete.

Thanks for the entertainment, blackbird family!